Web accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to the University of Salford main corporate website at www.salford.ac.uk.

This website is run by the University of Salford. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

Document scope

The University of Salford currently serves websites hosted on frameworks and platforms that include:

Drupal Content Management System (main corporate website);
WordPress (miscellaneous websites linked to research, enterprise and other university activities);
SharePoint (Staff and Student Intranets – only accessible to members of the University)
Various other platforms (various functional websites, both accessible and non-accessible to members of the public)

The content of this document is limited to the main corporate website hosted on the Drupal CMS platform at https://www.salford.ac.uk and the University job application system.

The Web Team continue to work with other teams across the institution to provide further statements as appropriate to describe accessibility compliance across other platforms/frameworks.

Using the website

We want as many people as possible to be able to use our website and we are continually working towards improving its accessibility. We follow general principles of usability and universal design and endeavour to meet level 2 (AA) of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.

The text should be clear and simple to understand. You should be able to:

zoom in up to 400% without problems
navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
navigate most of the website on different devices
navigate most of the website using speech recognition software or screen readers

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

Some pages have colour contrast issues
Most downloadable files (for example MS Word, MS PowerPoint and PDF) are not fully accessible to screen reader software
Many of our videos do not have captions
Our audio files do not have transcripts
Some of our pages and content structures are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
Some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
Some of our popups are difficult to close with just a keyboard

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format, please email webmaster@salford.ac.uk

If you cannot view the map on our 'find us' page call +44 (0)161 295 5000 for directions.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact webmaster@salford.ac.uk

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The University of Salford is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

The following aspects of our website do not currently meet the accessibility guidelines.

Some aspects of our search system and navigation are not fully controllable using the keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard).
Some pages use multiple headings levels or skip heading levels. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.6 (Headings and Labels).
Some link text will not make sense to a screen reader, e.g. ‘Click Here’ or full URLs. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose)
Images presented as part of ‘carousels’ do not have an ‘alt’ tag but are all captioned. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text content)
Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard).
Some of our interactive forms contain fields without labels or with confusing labels. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions)
Some iframes are missing a title.
Some tables don't have summaries or captions. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships)
Colour contrast is insufficient on some pages across the site in terms of image placement, content links, keyboard focus etc. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast)
Keyboard navigation, including the ability to tab easily through content on some web pages, is not logical, intuitive or complete. Some content structures cannot be reached by keyboard navigation. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard).
Some elements are not highlighted on focus or have focus states with insufficient contrast. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7 (Focus Visible)
Many of our PDFs and downloadable documents are not fully accessible. We aim to review and replace key PDFs and other downloadable files with HTML pages where possible or improve the accessibility of PDFs and downloadable files where HTML is not viable. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 2.4.2 (Page titled) and 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
Some of our video and audio content does not include captions or transcripts. We are reviewing our video and audio content and adding captions or transcripts or deleting where the content is no longer needed. Where this content is still relevant we aim to replace it with accessible alternatives or add captions or transcripts as soon as possible. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 1.2.2 (Audio-only and Video-only) and 1.2.2 (Captions).
When the site is zoomed to 200% some focused elements are not visible. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7 (Focus Visible)
When the site is zoomed to 400% some elements extend past the side of the page and as a result the page requires scrolling in both horizontal and vertical directions. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.10 (Reflow)
The main site navigation has a structure that may be confusing to screen-reader users. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value)

Non-compliant systems

The University job application system does not fully meet the accessibility standards. At present the University job application system is not compliant for the following reasons:

Some content cannot be reached with a keyboard
Some of the PDFs lack information about structured content such as headings, tables, lists and paragraphs

We are working with our supplier to address the issues. We are also working replace this system and plan to decommission it during 2025.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 that are not essential to providing our services.
Some pre-recorded time-based media – such as YouTube videos - published before 23rd September 2020 are exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. Where this content is still relevant we aim to replace it with accessible alternatives or add captions or transcripts as soon as possible.
Live video streams – including our Graduation Ceremony streams - because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. We will continue to seek opportunities to improve the accessibility of our live video streams.
We will try and ensure online maps are as accessible as possible, although they are currently exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. We will continue to ensure that any information available in maps is also available in accessible formats elsewhere.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We have improved the overall accessibility of our site by developing new navigation and search systems, and by reconfiguring the content of our home page.

We have identified further accessibility improvements - such as improving keyboard access to content presented in accordion structures and improving the accessibility of iframe content to screen reader users - which will be implemented and launched by February 2023.

We are currently carrying out an accessibility audit of our website, recording and addressing issues we find. Once this audit is complete we will plan the next stage in improving our websites accessibility.

We are in the early stages of planning a program for staff to educate them on the importance of accessibility and what they can do to ensure the content they produce is accessible.

We are looking into the possibility of adding accessibility checks to our workflow to ensure new and updated content meets accessibility standards.

We plan to commission an audit by a 3rd party organisation to assess whether our site meets accessibility standards after we have addressed the known issues.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This website was last tested on 28th October 2022. The test was carried out internally by the University of Salford Web Team within the Marketing, Recruitment and External Relations directorate.

Our test sample included:

This statement was prepared on 28 February 2020. This statement was last reviewed on 31 July 2024.